Portland’s Damian Lillard poured in 51 points against a Philadelphia team missing injured stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, powering the Trail Blazers to a 124-121 NBA victory Sunday.
Lillard, taunted on social media after two key missed free throws in a Saturday loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, unleashed the 10th 50-point performance of his career and fifth of the season to pull Portland within a half-game of Memphis for eighth in the Western Conference playoff fight.
“This was different because our season was on the line,” Lillard said. “We drop this one and we don’t control our destiny. I thought we answered the call down the stretch.”